Man sentenced for marrying his 15-year-old cousin
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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- A member of Utah's polygamous Kingston clan was sentenced Monday to a year in prison for taking a 15-year-old cousin -- who was also his aunt -- as his wife.
Jeremy Ortell Kingston pleaded guilty to incest in an arrangement with prosecutors. The felony charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor if Kingston successfully completes three years' probation.
Kingston was 24 when he took LuAnn Kingston as his fourth wife in 1995. Family members say he has at least 17 children.
At a hearing in October, Kingston told the judge: "I had a relationship, a sexual relationship, with LuAnn for about four years. That relationship ended about four years ago."
After Monday's sentencing, Luann Kingston told reporters: "I was glad that they saw through all of his save-face comments."
LuAnn Kingston left her marriage in 2000, taking with her their two daughters. She said she went to police hoping to set an example for other polygamous wives.
The Kingston clan, also known as the Latter Day Church of Christ, includes an estimated 1,200 members. The secretive group has amassed a $150 million business empire, running Utah companies that include pawn shops, restaurant supply stores and dairies.
The clan is not part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which practiced polygamy widely until the 1890s, when church leaders renounced it as a condition for Utah statehood.
Polygamists are now excommunicated from the Mormon church.
Last year, Jeremy Kingston's uncle, David Ortell Kingston, was released from prison after serving four years for committing incest with a 16-year-old niece.
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